User blog:Villain fan/Series Review
Okay, in thanks for you writing this awesome series, Joe, and because I took so long to read it all, I've written a series review, as well as the one of the series finale. In return, I would like a Liz-Bot portal to put at the top of my user page. Thanks. I've ordered the seasons based on what I think is the best season first (I also ranked each episode and calculated the average for each season to make sure it correlated with this order (#ineedalife), and it did, moo). Season 3 Season 3 is a perfect season, seriously. I have no complaints about it, and I can't praise it enough. Splitting the characters into two locations in present-day meant it was easier to focus on characters, and every character really did get to shine this season (I even loved Lady!). Honestly, there were no episodes that I disliked this season; they were all good! It was the strongest premiere of the first three seasons, then the following four episodes, while sometimes slow in the main story progression, were all strongly focused character stories, so it suited me perfectly. I loved Prima sticking around for this season, of course, and the zombie curse was a lot of fun, and how they then turned on Prima and forced her to join the group of heroes was a really great and fun way to include her. Then, 306, David's first centric, was a standout episode, very amusing and showcasing how much we had really come to like that character, which was a surprise to me because going into season 3, I figured the jokes at her expense would get old fast, but they didn’t, and I really came to like her. The next two episodes – Lady and Peep centrics – were also pretty great, with Peep finally causing some destruction. I really liked Peep, merged with Silvia, as the big bad this season, as well as having David working for her; was a solid group of foes, then Emma's introduction made it all even more interesting. I also enjoyed the Lady focus in Storywik, and her relationships with Regina and Prima. The next four episodes, however, were all amazing! Four perfect episodes in a row, possibly the strongest run of episodes in the series! I adored the Prima focus in 309, and then the climax of the zombie curse and Peep as the big bad were all excellent. 310 would have sufficed as a season finale really, and was probably stronger than some actual finales. It was also the perfect end to Prima. Then, 311 and 312 were so awesome, and just like the season 3 finale of OUaT, undoubtedly my favourite finale of the series. The inclusion of past and present mains were perfect, as was the part of Jdg98. Overall, season 3 had two really strong main stories, and was probably the best season for character focus, with every character shining at some point. Season 5 Season 5 was another very strong season, with more great character focus, particularly focusing on what the characters mean to each other, which made it feel all the more real. Regina sticking around via Jdg98 as the main villain was also fitting, and bringing back Mary was genius. The flash-sideways were a lot of fun. There's only really one big complaint about season 5, so let's get that out the way first – the villains. Jdg98 was a very dull big bad, but considering he was talking to either himself or a mute in most of his scenes, that was hardly his fault. The main problem here really was that Jdg98 was on his own, unlike Liz-Bot commanding a whole group of villains only last season, and he had no partner, like Prima and James having each other, and he had no amusing/interesting sidekick like Regina having Disney, or Peep having David. Additionally, he was the only source of threat and evil, there was no smaller villain like Villain in season 1, Silvia in season 2, or the zombies in season 3, because pretty much every other evil character on the show had either died or redeemed. Now, I get it, it was the last season and you wanted to focus on the already established characters, rather than bringing in any new evil forces. Plus, characters who had previously been evil such as Peep had redeemed and you were satisfied with their direction, without wanting to mess with it just for the sake of the story, which was good, but the last season still needed more tension from threat. It's all the more annoying really because the story started off with the best group of villains, I think, the series has had – Jdg98, Liz-Bot and Matthew, as I've said many times, were a lot of fun and had an interesting dynamic, so it was a big blow to be robbed of all that. Making it worse was that Liz didn’t even do all that much once back to normal, so it didn’t justify killing Liz-Bot off, who was much more entertaining, and I'd personally have loved to see her stick around for more of the season, fighting the villains by Jdg98's side. Okay, that's over. Onto the good stuff. And there was a lot of it. The season had the strongest premiere of the series, I think; it was really a lot of fun and really got me excited for the season. While I didn’t find 502 the most entertaining of episodes, I came to appreciate by the final that story and how it all connected. I took some issue with 503 and 504 because of how UFO and Mary dominated the flash-sideways; with the focus being on how they could get characters to reconnect with old parts of themselves from their POV, rather than actually focus on the actual centric characters and their transition after Mary and UFO had formed their plan. But, these were still two strong episodes, overall. 505 was a standout episode of the series, making UFO a really strong character, and the incorporation of Disney into it all was genius. Then, while 506 and 507 followed the same formula as 503 and 504, they were much more accomplished, focusing more on the POV of the centric characters, rather than that of UFO and Mary. Both Peep and Rachel's flash-sideway stories were excellent, and I loved the incorporation of all the past characters – Emma, Villain, Silvia, and even Kristi, Divina and James got some nice cameos. David's arc was also hilarious but also really nice, showing how her relationship with Peep had changed. But, mostly, these two episodes were as excellent as they were because it focused on Peep and Rachel's relationship, and what they meant to each other, which did great for their characters; the wedding was really great, and the focus on Joe and Rachel's relationship was also a nice touch. The flash-sideways story in 508 and 511 was very strong, focusing on the important feud between Rena and Regina, while incorporating UFO and Rena and Lady's love as the way to resolve everything was very good. 509 was a nice story for Mary, and I really enjoyed having her back in present-day, with the focus on her relationship with Joe and Rachel being excellent, particularly her relationship with Joe in 510, which was my favourite thing about that episode and a very fitting relationship to focus on so late in the series, what with their relationship being so crucial to the first and last season stories. It was then a perfect finale really, focusing wonderfully on every main character and a very awesome climax. This was a really strong season, with lots of great character focus, a great climax and how it mirrored season 1. Season 1 While I actually enjoyed season 1 the least, I put that down to not yet being in love with the characters, and not to do with the episodes and stories not being strong, because they were strong. I think it's pretty normal to look back on a first season more favourably than other seasons, even if you enjoyed those other seasons more at the time. I'll admit, I wasn’t really feeling this series until 103 when the plot involved all the main characters and really allowed me to get a proper feel of them all; that was a pretty great episode. The next four episodes were then all pretty great also, focusing more deeply on the characters, with interesting flashbacks, and I enjoyed all these episodes a lot, especially Peep's and Villains'. I still wasn’t feeling all of the characters though, most notably Regina which was evident in 108. I don’t think all the characters had yet found their footing and were still restricted as to parodying the OUaT characters that inspired them too much, rather than really setting themselves apart. As the season progressed, other characters, like Liz and Villain, who had shined on their centric then went quite forgotten and/or unfocused. I enjoyed the parts of Peep and Mary, with 109 being a standout episode, but appreciate those stories much more as time has gone on. Jdg98 was a fun element and I enjoyed the havoc he wreaked in the finale, and I liked Joe's centric a lot, when I really just started rooting for Joe as the lead. Overall, though, this season had a lot of fun character introduction stories and great flashbacks for the first centrics of the characters. Season 4 Season 4 is possibly the messiest season because there was so much going on and ultimately some of it underwhelmed, but there was a lot of really great episodes. The premiere was very strong, strongest of the first four seasons, and the idea of the Maleficent Seven was a lot of fun, and I really enjoyed their centric episode. Liz-Bot is my favourite big bad because she was just so entertaining, so of course I adore anything that she was a part of. There were ups and downs, as I loved the Selena and Brad story in 406, then thought favourably on the Divina present-day story, and the Peep and Regina flashbacks, as well as enjoyed the Lady and Rena flashbacks, but I thought less favourably towards the Rachel and Peep flashbacks, and the Brad hostage story. It was an inconsistent season. Honestly, as I try to remember what happened when, I realise that this is the only season in which I couldn’t do an episode by episode review; there was just so much going on and I don’t remember what happened when. Emma and Joe's story was a big plus though, with Liz killing Emma, and Emma's centric episode being a standout episode of the series. The flashbacks in 411 didn’t serve Liz-Bot very well I didn’t think, and the final was lacking in action, but I still really enjoyed the last two episodes, with great Liz-Bot scenes and Regina's sacrifice. Overall, I did really enjoy season 4 and while there was more stuff than usual I didn’t like, there was also a lot I did like. The season had too much going on, but too much is a better complaint than too little, so moo. Season 2 I've been very unfair in putting season 2 last, because I actually really enjoyed it. Individually, the episodes were all pretty good, but collectively they feel a bit dragged. I loved the story of Joe and Regina being trapped in the magic world, with 201 and 202 being pretty good episodes, then I adored 204 as we got deeper into the Prima and Regina history. While, I don’t remember much of what happened this season in Storywik tbh, I remember enjoying 203 and 205 enough. 206-210 was then some of my favourite episodes in the series. The focus on Joe in 206 as we got deeper into his character was a standout episode of the series, which really made me appreciate him a lot more as a character. Rachel had been a great inclusion, lots of fun, and their adventures, such as involving Captain Nosh as Prima tried to have them make their wishes were all really great. Then, the history surrounding Silvia was awesome, she really stole the show, being one of the most interesting characters the series had had. While, 212 was definitely my least favourite finale of the series, just quite underwhelming, I did enjoy Prima and James' appearance in Storywik, and the confrontations they had in 211, as well as how that episode rounded up their story together. Overall, season 2 is possibly the weakest arc of the series, but I still really enjoyed it, meaning every arc in the series was a success. So, again, thanks for sharing this story with us, Joe, it's been a lot of fun to read! You created a very creative and interesting world, filled with great characters we grew to care about, and managed 5 seasons of entertaining and successful arcs, while keeping up interesting flashback stories to accompany them, so congrats! :D Category:Blog posts